On Saturday the 1st of October 05, at Narrromine Airfield in New South Wales Australia a full size replica of the Model A Wright Flyer will make it's first public flight. This replica is fully approved by CASA in the experimental catagory and it is powered by a auto Hillman Imp engine. It will be flown by warbird pilot Col Pay. Prior to it's flight Apollo Astronaught Dr Buzz Aldrin will perform a dedication.
Over the same weekend the 75th aniversary air pagent will also be held. Naromine was a advanced training airfield during the second world war. Narromine is also well known to sailplane pilots and is home to the annual ultralight fly in held over the Easter break. yes i will be going armed with still and video cameras. fingers crossed ozzie

i don't think there is i found out about the flight when i received an invitation to attend from the RA/AUS. i'll do a little seaching when i get back on Monday. there has been a fair bit of secrecy on it lately as the invite says the fist PUBLIC flight so i assume that the test flights are being conducted under wraps. their has been nothing else mentioned on it.

on friday afternnoon, drove the five hrs to Narromine and and camped out with about 500 others and 400 aircraft had already arrived so the place was already in full swing.
the Flyer had already been test hopped and only received the air worthiness certificate and permit to fly the preceding monday. on Friday morning the engine suffered some problem and was running again only a few hrs before it was due to fly. Saturday dawned bright and blue with a stiff 15 knt wind blowing. not good . a lone balloon lifted off and raced away as it climbed then when it reached 800 ft it stopped absolutley still. over the next half hour the wind dropped to about 5 knts with some litttle gusts .looked better. i had taken my girlfriend and it was her first airshow and is not keen on flying but got involved in a sence of history way and put up with my boy in a toy shop attitude. we managed to walk throu an open gate and got up close and managed some video and stills before getting ushered back. no more wandering up and down the flight line now. everyone is kept landside now with the new laws. times change.
so about 5000 people crammed onto the front lawn of the club house to hear a bright talk and dedication by Buzz Aldrin that was very enjoyable
Then as the wind was calmer now the wright flyer taxied about a mile to the into wind runway (so the video is pretty adverage zoomed right in.) it did fly twice not very high but was definatley under control in the bumpy air. it taxied back under its own power between runs then taxied back for photos and the rest of the days flying went on with a pretty good airshow. as soon as i work out the video i'll post it . for now just a few photos. my girlfriend is still not keen on hights, ie flying, but enjoyed the expeirience.
Flight testing will continue and will fly off its test hrs. refinment will no doubt improve performance. it is planned to fly it at various airshows over the next 2 yrs.

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